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Her Last Words

“My sister is in love with Rajeev and he is an anti-social element. He is a goon and I’m so worried about her,” said Radhika to her classmate.

“If he is a goon, how did she fall for him?” asked her classmate.

Radhika replied, “I have no clue. She says that it is love at first sight. And, apparently he also fell in love with her. But, his profile is so frightening. He has been arrested thrice already. Imagine that. Before reaching the age of twenty, he has already been arrested thrice. I will pray to God to get her out of this mess.”

They kept talking about other topics when suddenly Radhika heard someone calling her name. It was the college peon. He shouted, “Are you Karthika’s siter? She was shot in the playground just now. They’re rushing her to the hospital. She is asking for you. She is already unconscious.”

Radhika could not control her tears. She said, “How did this happen?”

The peon said, “Someone tried to shoot at Rajeev. Accidentally, the gun shot hit your sister. Rajeev is going with her to the hospital.”

Radhika felt angrier at Rajeev for hurting her sister.

Radhika rushed to the hospital. She saw Rajeev standing outside a ward and crying inconsolably. Radhika feared as to what might have happened to her sister.

A professor of their college came forward and told her, “She died on the way to the hospital.”

Radhika rushed into the ward and cried. For the next thirty minutes or so, she did not know what was happening around her. She kept on crying. She could hear Rajeev crying outside the ward.

Radhika’s parents came after some time. Her mother asked Radhika, “Why didn’t you take care of her?”

Radhika realized the situation. She stormed out the room. She took her sandal and started slapping Rajeev. She started shouting at him, “You are the one who killed my sister. Why did you get into her life? I told you earlier to leave her alone. But, you killed her now. You are the criminal. I hate you. You are the murderer. Get away from here. Your tears are fake. Get lost.”

Rajeev felt guilty and walked away with tears in his eyes.

The college authorities later explained to her parents that it was not Rajeev’s mistake. He has been working for the poor people and their colony near the college. One of the top politicians hated his involvement. They knew that he was helping them with their court case. The politician realized that he would not win the case as long as Rajeev was helping the poor people. So, he planned to eliminate Rajeev out of the equation by killing him. Unfortunately, Karthika got hurt when they tried to kill him by shooting him.

Karthika’s parents forgave Rajeev as their daughter loved him. But, Radhika decided that she would never forgive him. She was so angry on him for the death of her sister that she wanted to kill him.

A week after Karthika’s death, Rajeev came to their house. He noted the time when Radhika would not be at their house and sat with them. He apologized to her parents. He said, “I’m extremely sorry for her. I miss her badly.”

Rajeev started crying. Karthika’s father asked him to calm down and said that it just had to happen and that he knew the entire story.

Karthika’s father said, “She told me that she liked you because you always worked for the good of the needy and she wanted to be part of your exercise. Unfortunately, she passed away before she could do something.”

Rajeev said, “I came here to talk about that. A few minutes after she was shot, she kept on telling me to fulfill her longstanding dream. She did not tell me what it was. She asked me to learn about it from Radhika. But, I know that Radhika hates me and would never tell anything. There is something that Karthika wanted to do. It was her dream. Do you know anything about it? Please tell me. I’ll make it my dream from today and fulfill her lifelong ambition. Please help me.”

Karthika’s parents could not think of anything specific. They never had such discussions with her. And, they thought their daughter was a normal girl with simple dreams of getting married and living a peaceful life. But, her words meant that she had some bigger dreams.

While discussing about Karthika and her dreams, Rajeev suddenly noted that it was time for Radhika to return home.

Rajeev told to her parents, “Can you please help me? I have a plan. Radhika will never share the details. There is only one way in which I can get those details from her. But, for that, I need your help. Will you help me for the next few minutes?”

Karthika’s parents agreed to help him. He shared the details of his plan with him. Rajeev called a couple of his friends to come into the house.

Before Radhika arrived, they broke the TV and a couple of costly equipment in Karthika’s house.

Radhika came after a few minutes. She was horrified to see the state of her house.

Rajeev was sitting in the living room. With anger on his face, he said, “Come on, young lady. You blamed me for your sister’s death. Now, help me or I will kill your parents too. I’m ready to kill anyone as I already lost my love.”

Radhika was unperturbed by his words or actions. She said, “Moron. How dare you come into my house? Let me call the cops.”

Rajeev’s friends stopped her from taking her mobile phone. They pushed her towards the center of the living room.

Rajeev said, “Stop acting. Just give me what I need and I will go away from here. Karthika told me that she had a dream before she died. She said that only you know the details. Share those details with me. I will go away. If you try to make a scene, I can get all three of you killed.”

Radhika started crying. She said, “I don’t know what you are talking. Why would I ever share the details even if I knew? She must have had some noble goals. She has always been a different girl with a kind heart. Don’t expect anything from me.”

One of Rajeev’s friends pointed a knife to Radhika’s mother and threatened to kill her if Radhika did not share the details.

Rajeev said, “You are wasting our time. Share anything you know about Karthika that your parents do not already know. I will go away without harming any of you.”

Radhika remained silent. When the guy threatened to slit her mother’s throat, Radhika shouted out, “She used to write everything in her diary. My parents do not know that she writes a diary. Nobody knows about it. She told me not to tell anyone.”

Rajeev immediately rushed into Karthika’s room and ransacked everything in her room until he could get the diary. After a few minutes, he came out with a diary in his hand.

Rajeev said, “I’m sorry aunt and uncle. I had to hurt you and your property because I needed the details.”

Radhika later filed a complaint against him with the police authorities. They ignored her complaints as they were already informed about the drama by her father and Rajeev.

Radhika never heard of Rajeev again.

FIVE YEARS LATER

Radhika continued to hate Rajeev.

She got married to Harish an year later. They did not have kids. Doctors told them that they did not have any chance of having kids as Radhika had some problems.

Finally, Radhika and Harish decided to adopt a kid as they badly wanted a kid. They started searching for adoption agencies and orphanages. They went to a couple of orphanages and liked a couple of kids. But, Radhika was not satisfied.

Suddenly, she came across an orphanage that she liked in the newspaper. She said to Harish, “Can we go to this orphanage tomorrow? They have branches across the country. It seems to be a good one. I like it more because it has my sister’s name.”

The next day, Radhika and Harish went to Karthika Charitable Trust, to check if there was any baby that they could consider for adoption.

Radhika was surprised to see Rajeev’s name as the head of the charitable institutions. She wanted to go away from that place. She did not want to do any business with the place.

As she was leaving, she was surprised to see her sister’s statue in the main playground. She started crying. She told Harish, “This was her dream. He really loved her. I hated him unnecessarily all this while. It was true love. It was my mistake.”

Radhika talked to her parents and came to know about the episode on the day he came to take the diary. Her father told her that it was a drama as planned by Rajeev.

She got Rajeev’s phone number. She called him and said, “I’m sorry. I got you wrong.”

Rajeev said, “Thank you.”

Radhika did not understand why he thanked her.

Rajeev continued, “She had two dreams. One of them was to build an orphanage the way she wanted to build it. Second, she wanted you to forgive me and stop hating me. Thanks for fulfilling her second dream.”

Radhika missed her sister badly and hated herself for not trusting her sister’s judgment.